Business Steam rules updated to prohibit content that violates rules set forth by payment processors and banks - Valve's rules regarding what developers "shouldn't publish on Steam" have a new clause regarding standards set forth by payment processors.

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Valve's rules regarding what developers "shouldn't publish on Steam" have a new clause regarding standards set forth by payment processors.

2025-07-16 17:17
Amber V



Valve has updated its rules regarding content that developers aren’t allowed to publish on Steam (as reported by Game*Spark [archive]). The “Rules and Guidelines” section of Steamworks Documentation now has an extra clause, and it suggests that publishers are required to comply with rules and standards set forth by various third parties involved in processing electronic payments. The rule seems to be predominantly related to adult content.

What you shouldn’t publish on Steam:
15. Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content.

Prior to the update, the list included 14 clauses, prohibiting things like hate speech, malware, sexual content depicting real people and any form of exploitation of children. The new 15th clause suggests that Steam may additionally have to crack down on specific types of adult content in response to the requirements of payment processors and banks. There are currently no specific examples of what this may entail.

Update (2025/07/15 at 18:30 JST): According to SteamDB [wayback], a large number of games has been removed from the platform in the past 16 hours. Judging rom the list, it appears “sex simulator” type games with keywords such as “incest” and “slavery” make up the majority. There are some confusing cases like the removal of the Ace Attorney-inspired investigation game Trails of Innocence, although this could be a coincidental deletion.

On a related note, various video game and manga hosting platforms in Japan have in recent years run into trouble with payment processors and credit card networks. Due to certain content on the platforms going against the (often undisclosed) rules and standards of third parties handling payments, the platforms ended up without support for credit card payment. This has led to loss of revenue and even the closure of platforms like Manga Library Z. It is possible that Steam’s new rule is a means to prevent such complications from arising, however, as the specific “rules and standards” of the payment processors are also unclear, publishers might need to be extra cautious with releasing their games on the platform.

Related articles: “It’s a security hole that endangers democracy itself.” NieR creator speaks out against payment processors pressuring Japanese adult content platforms

Visa Japan’s CEO says disabling card payment for legal adult content is “necessary to protect the brand”

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Niche Gamer: Steam updates rules to comply with payment processor censorship (archive)
Wccftech: Steam Publishing Guidelines Updated With Clause Prohibiting Content That Violates Payment Processor and Bank Rules (archive)

Rock Paper Shotgun: Valve change Steam's rules to let banks and credit card firms prohibit "certain kinds of adult only content" (archive)

In particular, this could lead to a stifling of games that are in any way non-conforming, particularly given the current climate of repression in Valve's home country, the USA. I know about the rule change thanks to Youtuber and self-described former game developer NoahFuel Gaming, who has posted on Bluesky about the potential fallout for projects the banks and financial corporations consider "adult" because they deviate from reactionary framings of sex and gender. As the Youtuber writes: "Queer content gets flagged as 'explicit' even when it's PG. A trans dev making a personal story? 'Too controversial.' A surreal queer VN? 'Sexualized.' Financial deplatforming in action."

GamesRadar: Steam now prohibits games that violate the "rules and standards" of payment processors, banks, and more, and users are worried it might affect more than just "certain kinds of adult-only content" (archive)

"Yeah... this is something that looks innocuous at first glance but it's a trojan horse," another believes. "LGBTQ+ has a habit of being mysteriously flagged as 'adult only.'" On ResetEra, similar points are being shared, as one writes: "Today it's porn games, tomorrow any game with LGBTQ+ content because it ends up labelled as 'adult.'"

Notebookcheck: Steam tightens adult content rules after pressure from payment giants (archive)

As spotted [archive] by TheGamer, this triggered a mini-purge according to the Steam Database, with many problematic games such as "Incest Tales", "Wolf on Rail", "Sex Village", "Slave of the Police Officer", and many more, being delisted from the storefront.

GamingOnLinux: Valve gets pressured by payment processors with a new rule for game devs and various adult games removed (archive)

 

[teriyakiburns]

Correct. It is insane that some posters seem to make lolicon their hill they really want to die on.

lolishit and other weirdo porn is the wedge they currently use to force the issue. That's why it becomes the hill to die on; they use it as their excuse to force services to apply their rules, which are then expanded and expanded until they can dictate exactly what you see and do.

 

[Terrifik]

I dunno guys, debanking "Interactive Sex - Incest Twins - Episode 3" is pretty based.

I understand where you're coming from and generally agree with you, but consider the fact that the more payment processors restrict content the less money they make. Drawing a line at pornographic content depicting incest etc. doesn't necessarily mean they'll go full race-swapped Snape and push some woke agenda. Their desire for shekels will always take priority.

its because it about to run or hit the Jap & anime question in few years.
which it should be same picture meme.
which will lead block or ban of jap games or fanservcie games.
we just reaching another slope of slippery slope of banning games.

 

[Hey Johnny Bravo]

lolishit and other weirdo porn is the wedge they currently use to force the issue. That's why it becomes the hill to die on; they use it as their excuse to force services to apply their rules, which are then expanded and expanded until they can dictate exactly what you see and do.

What I see happening is people using these new rules to maliciously flag content on Steam, which would result in a shit or get off the pot scenario. Who is responsible for reviewing content? Where does the buck stop? Payment processors are not forthcoming about their review process, so a major game could get delisted due to false reports. What do the developers, or publishers, or Valve do in that situation? Unless I'm not understanding the new rule fully.

I could care less about weird sex games on Steam getting the boot, but this situation is very interesting.

 

[FunPosting101]

Fuck the banks and fuck the payment processors. They should have no business deciding stuff like this. Oh and anyone who thinks this will stop at weird porn is being incredibly fucking naïve.

 

[Kyuruma]

The comments on the Linux gaming article are astounding. These freaks actually think this is a con/lib issue, they are truly RAPED beyond belief.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

I understand where you're coming from and generally agree with you, but consider the fact that the more payment processors restrict content the less money they make. Drawing a line at pornographic content depicting incest etc. doesn't necessarily mean they'll go full race-swapped Snape and push some woke agenda. Their desire for shekels will always take priority.

If you view "banks" and "payment processors" in the abstract, this is true. But you have to understand, the people making censorship decisions won't have it taken out of their check.

 

[Hff201]

While I generally oppose debanking, in this case it mainly just affects degenerate lolicon and incest slop. Neither are worth defending.

Correct. It is insane that some posters seem to make lolicon their hill they really want to die on.

Posts like these are why I am a Burger Suit Appreciator.

This is how they boiling-frog you into accepting their mass censorship. They know nobody who cares about their public image wants to be the guy aggressively defending Incest Rape Simulator 2025 so the people who're concerned about censorship either stay quiet or embarrass themselves trying to speak up, but in the process they're conditioning the wider public to believe that the payment processors are a moral authority with everyone's best interests' in mind, which is obviously not the case.

Any mechanism in place to censor pornography will also be used to censor "hate speech", and "hate speech" is a subjective term that can be slapped on anything anyone influential takes objection to; censorship is an incredibly slippery slope. "We don't like this content so nobody else is allowed to have it" is the exact same mindset that's led to Josh having to deal with so much bullshit.

If the content is legal, it should be eligible for sale, no exceptions.

 

[Terrifik]

What I see happening is people using these new rules to maliciously flag content on Steam, which would result in a shit or get off the pot scenario. Who is responsible for reviewing content? Where does the buck stop? Payment processors are not forthcoming about their review process, so a major game could get delisted due to false reports. What do the developers, or publishers, or Valve do in that situation? Unless I'm not understanding the new rule fully.

I could care less about weird sex games on Steam getting the boot, but this situation is very interesting.

The new rules set that the moderator is up to banks & paypal
flagging won't go to steam.
flagging emails is going to the banks(visa,master,american express)

 

[CircuSphere]

They will sell this as being about sexual content and then ban anything that challenges The International Jewish Banking Elite tm.

Fuck kikes, Mossad did 9/11 and Larry Silverstein made 7 billion from it, Hitler did nothing wrong, Epstein was their asset, 110 and then never again, remember the USS liberty.

 

[Hey Johnny Bravo]

The new rules set that the moderator is up to banks & paypal
flagging won't go to steam.
flagging emails is going to the banks(visa,master,american express)

No one learned a fucking thing from Gamergate. We're one step closer to Donald Trump mentioning Gamergate.

 

[Fatpacks]

Fuck the banks and fuck the payment processors. They should have no business deciding stuff like this. Oh and anyone who thinks this will stop at weird porn is being incredibly fucking naïve.

That may be, but what can you really do at this point? Tell the 100M+ people who use Valve's services to just stop supporting them? Tell the literal billions of people who use Mastercard or Visa to switch to near-nonexistent alternatives?

 

[Bonesjones]

Incest and Beastiality have always been considered too close for comfort to legal definitions of obscenity and not financially worthwhile to make a legal stand about. Payment Processors don't really care over all, they exist to make money and not draw political attention. Most websites already banned it and Steam finally had enough content for it to get noticed and talked about. Its as big a political stance as banning Nudist material that happened to have kids in it.

 

[God of Nothing]

Okay, this shit needs to go to the supreme court. Payment processors should not have this much power. They're plotting something big and going after the little things first.

 

[Black Man Underwear]

If Steam wants to ban this content, fine. 99% of it is zero effort jigsaw puzzle hentai anyway. But payment processors have no standing being arbiters of morality.

 

[Kofi Drinka]

Has any game of value been lost? Not porn shovelware.

 

[God of Nothing]

If Steam wants to ban this content, fine. But payment processors have no standing being arbiters of morality.

They are outright dictating what is and what is not allowed to be sold, which influences what is made. Good or bad, this is where a goverment set in power by the people belongs. Not a retarded fucking glorified debt collector

 

[George Lucas]

I’ll care about this as soon as a game that actually matters is taken down because of this.

 

[Ted's Cabin]

Their desire for shekels will always take priority.

You should never just assume someone is just out for money. It gives them way too much plausible deniability for their behavior, and sometimes people do far more evil things than pursuing money. I have never met a single person or group of people who were purely motivated by money instead of ego, or emotions, ideology, or some other heavy driving force. Even larger collections of people should be even more prone to this sort of subversion or manipulation. Even if you think the people behind payment processors are 100% profit driven, they realized at some point they can use their money to rewrite parts of society to make themselves more money.

And then they banned "Interactive Sex Incest daughters Episode 3" and I think, you know, maybe they're not so bad after all.

 

[CircuSphere]

I’ll care about this as soon as a game that actually matters is taken down because of this.

"I'll care about the carbon monoxide build-up in this coal mine when something bigger than a bird dies down here."

 

[neger psykolog]

Stop whining about payment processors and start accepting cryptocurrency, or you deserve your face getting kicked in. I'm tired of people being outraged while doing literally nothing about their situation.

Stable
Coins

They're gonna arrive very quickly and very soon for everything